Game Of Thrones Season 2 executive producers and writers DB Weiss and David Benioff

This time last year and neither of Game Of Thrones‘ executive production duo of ‘Dan’ DB Weiss and David Benioff would have particularly impressive rosters on IMDb – Benioff’s screenwriting credits on Troy, X-Men Origins: Wolverine and The Kite Runner being the very definition of mixed messages.

Now they’ve not only brought to life one of the world’s biggest fantasy sagas, but turned Game Of Thrones into a HBO hit that threatens to grow with each series. We got an exclusive interview with the duo to talk Game Of Thrones Season 2, book 6 of A Song Of Ice And Fire and how George RR Martin stands up to JRR Tolkien at the launch party for Game Of Thrones: The Complete First Season…

How difficult is it getting your voice into someone else’s material?

David Benioff: “First of all, as novelists ourselves like George RR Martin, we know how hard it is to write a book – it’s the hardest thing there is. For me it’s hard to write 200 pages, so the fact that George has written 40,000 pages or more of an incredibly compelling saga, it’s just such a work of art, so from the beginning we just didn’t want to fuck it up. And I think George coming in and helping us out with his work…”

DB Weiss: “It’s his way of telling us we didn’t fuck it up.”

And he’s been on set for Game Of Thrones Season 2?

David Benioff: “He hasn’t been on set that often because he’s working on the novels, which is the most important thing, but he did come first season for about a week, and he’s coming in for the third season. He writes one episode a year, he’s a great resource – he’s one of the producers of the show. He’s the inspiration for everything of course, because he created this universe.”

It’s almost Tolkien-scale, the world George RR Martin has created…

DB Weiss: “It’s actually much bigger than Tolkien scale, Tolkien’s whole world was the equivalent size-wise of just one of George’s books, and George is on book number six now.”

David Benioff: “And it’s going to be much more epic than even that.”

Has George RR Martin given you any pointers as to where book six of A Song Of Ice And Fire is going?

David Benioff: “We’ve heard all sorts of great secrets.”

DB Weiss: “We could tell you but we’d have to smash your iPhone.”

We’ve heard Game Of Thrones Season 2 described as the ‘season of battles’ – do you think it lives up to that?

DB Weiss: “There are battles in Season 2.”

David Benioff: “I’d say ‘battle’.”

DB Weiss: “I’d say it’s more about the lead up to war, the drum beat to war, what happens when there’s a vacuum that needs to be filled and more than one person is there to fill it.”